Another ancient wonder in Ephesus

Photos
Yelda, our guide, The medicinal snakes logo, The winged Nike with the tick in her skirt, Main raod through Ephesus to the Celsus Library, Communal toilets, Terrace house excavations, Great friends, Mary's last resting place, lunch with great Turkish delights and cold beer

Today we docked in Kusadasi (pronounced as Koo–shar–dasi according to our local guide), on the western coast of Turkey and gateway to historical site of Ephesus – the original home of the biblical culture – the Ephesians.

After a few ports in Italy and Greece, we have become accustomed to their laid-back ‘take it or leave it’ attitude to life – but we can’t really understand these cultures who complain that their economy is on its back –and then close everything down between 1 and 4pm. for a rest and sit around in cafes smoking all afternoon, when you have shiploads of tourists walking around looking for somewhere to spend their money!!

 It was a great surprise to experience the complete opposite in Turkey – the people were very friendly and enterprising.

As an example, there are a lot of older passengers with mobility issues and some of these piers where the ships are docked are very long and tiring for them to manage (especially on these very hot days) – as we walked off the pier this morning in Kusadasi, there was a lineup of 2 person pedi-cabs and wheel chairs. One of our friends, Dennis, has difficulty walking long distances and we were worried about the distance down the pier, so we put him into one of the wheel chairs and he was taken right along the pier, through the terminal and shopping centre adjacent and then along the street and deposited at the door to our mini bus – an excellent service for just 2 euros. When we returned, within two minutes, the same guy magically appeared and took him back to the ship – fabulous service – maybe other ports could take note.

We drove the short distance – about 15 kms. - to the entrance to the ancient city of Ephesus 3 – there are three other cities from different eras, which have been discovered but are as yet unexcavated. Land movement and earthquakes destroyed the previous cities and they were buried. We have been to Pompeii and Herculaneum, but really enjoyed our tour here today – it is extremely well preserved and presented.

A couple of the artifacts stood out for me today – there is a wall relief sculpture of the Goddess Nike, the goddess of speed and victory who is, of course, the symbol of that sports company which has the tick as its logo – the same tick can be seen in the draping of her skirt in the carving although we were told that the sporting company actually held a competition to design its logo – spooky stuff.

Outside the hospital, etched into the wall, was the symbol of two intertwined snakes drinking from a bowl of milk above their heads. The story goes that there was a hospital which advertised that no-one who was a patient there had ever died – in truth, there was a very thorough entrance medical examination, and only patients with minor injuries were ever admitted – the serious cases were turned away. One man was turned away, and a nurse felt sorry for him as he lay on the street, so she put out a saucer of milk for him – two snakes came along and drank from the saucer. When the man also drank from the saucer, he was miraculously cured – and now the intertwined snakes is the symbol that is used for many medical, pharmaceutical and paramedic organisations.

Within the streets of Ephesus are a series of Terrace House, which have been extensively excavated and restored in a joint project between the Turkish and Austrian governments an unusual partnership – they have wonderful mosaics and frescoes which are laid out like a jigsaw puzzle and students of archaeology from around the world come here to help put the pieces together – there are, so far, more than 120,000 pieces laid out which are the decorations for the walls.

Despite the age of this city, it had many modern facilities for the ancient time – running water, hot and cold taps, steam rooms, underfloor heating of the marble floors, underground drainage and sewer systems – so advanced – the clay pipes look just like the ones which are still dug up around our house.

The other major sites within Ephesus are the Odeon theatre, Celsus Library, Temple of Hadrian and the Fountain of Trajan. The great theatre is still intact and seats 25,000 patrons – it has been used by everyone from St Paul preaching the Ephesians in the first century to more recent concerts 21^st century performances by Pavarotti, U2, Orchestras from around the world, and even Sting. When Sting performed, the decibel level was so high that some of the ancient stones vibrated and moved, so concerts were banned – although at least one each year is held to fund further excavation works.

Close by on the top of the Solmissos Mountains is the House of the Virgin Mary – accepted by the Vatican as the place that the Apostle John brought Mary after the crucifixion of Jesus and was the final place where Mary lived until her death. It is a small stone house where Christian and Moslem pilgrims line up to visit the house, passing in through one door and out the second. I was shocked to find out from the boards outside that Mary was mentioned more in the Koran, than she is referred to in the Bible and is revered in the Islamic religion. There is a wall where prayers and petitions  are written and left in the wall (similar to the western wall in Jerusalem). Set into the wall are taps of cold spring water from the area around the house – lots of the visitors had brought large containers which they filled to take the holy water home with them.

Our next stop was in the town of Seljuk, where we had a traditional local Turkish lunch, Mezedes and lamb shish kebabs which were cooked over an open barbecue in the restaurant - delicious – washed down with ice cold apple tea.

Once we returned to the port, we wandered over to the bazaar selling all sorts of things from leather jackets to gold and silver jewellery, watches (authentic fakes), clothing and souvenirs. We bought a few trinkets and are waiting for the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul in a few days.

Captain, pull in those lines and let us head to Athens, we want to hear more about the Greek gods….